Christo, less than a year after his death, is more prized than ever: the sale on Wednesday at Sotheby's in Paris of a first part of the personal collection of the artist couple, whom he formed with his wife Jeanne-Claude, reached 8 million euros.
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One hundred percent of the 28 lots were sold, 75% of which exceeded their estimate, with buyers' provenance being divided between the United States, Asia and Europe.
The starting estimate for the collection sold Wednesday was between 2.5 and 3.8 million euros.
In the center of attention, the drawings for “The Umbrellas (Joint project for Japan and USA)” of 1991, two spectacular installations of thousands of 6-meter-high umbrellas open simultaneously in Japan and Los Angeles for more than 20 kilometers. in 1991.
The world record in public sale for the artist who died last May was broken with the preparatory studies of the Californian yellow umbrellas: 1.7 million euros, while the designs of the Japanese blue umbrellas went to 1.2 million euros. 'euros.
The two works were estimated between 200,000 and 300,000 euros.
The preparatory drawings by the artist of Bulgarian origin for the packaging of the Pont-Neuf in 1985 amounted to 472,300 euros (estimate 200,000 / 300,000 euros).
A previous record at 481,500 euros
Before this auction, the previous record for Christo was 481,500 euros.
Another part of the collection is due to be auctioned on Thursday.
Christo Vladimiroff Javacheff, born in Bulgaria and died at the age of 84 in New York, had married the French Jeanne-Claude, who died in 2009, who had assisted him for fifty years, from Paris to New York.
In 2020, the Center Pompidou devoted a major exhibition to preparatory drawings for the packaging of the Pont Neuf.